Last October, Spoon was scheduled to play at Bogart’s on a Friday night. That show was cancelled so the band could play on Saturday Night Live. However, the band promised to return in the spring. Last night, Saturday, April 5, 2008, Spoon not only kept true to their promise, they played an incredibly searing set that lasted well over an hour and a half.
They opened their show with “My Little Japanese Cigarette Case,” a song that swells and builds around a steady drumbeat from Jim Eno. The band then moved smoothly into the slower, chaotic song “The Beast And Dragon, Adored” with its fitting lyrics, “When you don’t feel it it shows they tear out your soul/ And when you believe they call it rock and roll.”
Later in the set, when the band rolled on to “Finer Feelings,” some of the band’s strengths became evident. Britt Daniel’s precise enunciation creates very appealing melodies. The band has a faultless selectivity to their instrumentation, often creating breaks where one of two instruments drive a section. All of this is set amongst the high energy the four members of the band share onstage.
All of the six Spoon albums are full of songs this sold out audience wanted to hear. While the band played nine of the ten tracks from their most recent release, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, they also played a number of songs from their two previous releases.
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As they closed out their set with “Black Like Me,” it was apparent that this band could hold the audience captivated for an extended period of time with out playing some of their most recognizable and appealing song – like “Sister Jack” and “The Way We Get By.”
The band began their first encore with the song “Back To Life.” They followed it up with “My Mathematical Mind” and were accompanied by local harmonica player Blake Taylor. The overdriven harp from Taylor, from the Cincinnati blues band 46 Long, was a scorching addition to this extended song. The band came back out for a second encore and closed the night out with a version of “Small Stakes” with both Daniel and keyboardist Eric Harvey on acoustic guitars.
Britt Daniel held praise for the opening bands by affirming, “This is our dream lineup.” The first band of the evening was White Rabbits. They had an energetic live show supported by the syncopation of two drummers. The musicians switched instruments during the set, but stayed true to a lineup of two guitarists, bass, and electric piano/keyboards. The band also split vocal duties between two lead singers, oftentimes trading off and sharing melodies. Having relocated from Columbia, MO, to New York City, White Rabbits described the second band of evening has their “friends and neighbors.”
The Walkmen have a similar sound to White Rabbits, but more selective and subdued. The Walkmen used the same electric piano and keyboard setup as White Rabbits. Hamilton Leithauser sang the first song with his guitar slung on his back and occasionally played it throughout the set. The band played songs from their previous releases and also showcased a few one from the album they been working on “for years now.” They set started out mellow, but between Leithauser’s enthusiastic screams and the instrument trading onstage the set built to a strong finish.
www.spoontheband.com
www.marcata.net/walkmen
www.whiterabbitsmusic.com
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